


Home Improvements

by flaming_muse



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: April Showers Challenge, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-07-31
Updated: 2003-07-31
Packaged: 2017-10-18 06:15:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/185882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flaming_muse/pseuds/flaming_muse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Trading Spaces has a lot to answer for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home Improvements

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a challenge on the Excessant mailing list.
> 
> The terms of the challenge were:
> 
> 1\. No more than 1000 words. But at least 200.  
> 2\. Spike and Xander.  
> 3\. Shmoopy. Sex optional, but encouraged.  
> 4\. Ice cream.  
> 5\. The mention of physical labor.
> 
> Originally posted on my LJ on July 31, 2003.

"So I was thinking about the living room," Spike said as he and Xander sat at the kitchen table after finishing their dinner.

"What about it?" Xander asked.

"It's dull." He began to draw designs in the gravy on his plate with his finger.

Xander deliberately didn't look over to see what they were; if they weren't obscene then they were probably full of murder and mayhem, and neither way would they be conducive to carrying on a rational conversation.

"How exciting does it need to be?" he asked. "It's a living room. We live there. You know, watch tv, play video games, eat popcorn, read books, sixty-nine on the couch, sometimes more than one at once. What else do you need?"

"Well, you know, you've had that entertainment center for years, and the walls are just a boring white…"

Xander looked at Spike suspiciously.

"You've been watching _Trading Spaces_ again, haven't you?"

"I admit to nothing," said Spike airily. "I'm just saying that it's a bit dull is all."

Xander sighed.

"So what do you want to do?" he asked. "Paint the walls? Slipcover the couch? Get some throw pillows?"

"Well, the pillows might be nice for under my knees when I'm blowing you, but I was thinking more like making a whole-wall shelving unit, maybe punching a window through into the kitchen, and ripping up the rug to install a hardwood floor."

"What?!"

"Hey, Vern does it all the time!"

"Aha!" Xander said triumphantly. "I _knew_ you were watching _Trading Spaces_."

"I know we can do it. Look, if that goober Ty can build an entertainment center, how hard can it be?"

"Spike, I build things all day. You know, with wood and nails. Like Ty, only with a bigger budget and a longer timeframe. That's my job. The last thing I want to do is come home and have to rip up carpet and punch holes in the wall because you think that the living room is a bit _dull_."

"Well, actually, I thought I could do the ripping up and punching holes part."

"Oh, I see. You just want to destroy things, huh? Not put things back together? I have to clean up the mess?" Xander shoved his chair back from the table and dumped his plates in the sink.

"It's what I'm good at," Spike said, staring at his plate. "You know, vampire. Fangs, destruction, bloody mayhem. Not known for our construction skills. But never mind. You're right. The living room is fine."

Xander let out a sigh and put his arms around Spike's shoulders. He kissed him on top of his head and breathed in the scent of shampoo, hair gel, and Spike that lingered in his tousled hair.

"You're good at more than destroying things. You're good at singing, you're good at cards, you're good at finding the perfect song to annoy me in any mood, and you're very good at us." He kissed him again. "If you want to rip up the living room, I'll rebuild it for you. For us."

"Nah. Paint fumes make me sneeze," Spike said. He touched his lips briefly to Xander's and then stood to clear his dishes.

"How about some throw pillows, then?" Xander asked, poking his head into the freezer. Crisis averted. Time for ice cream.

"Nah. They'd just get in the way during the sixty-nines."

"We wouldn't want that," Xander said, grinning. "Hey, want some ice cream? I bought chocolate-banana today..."

"I had something else in mind for dessert, pet," Spike said, coming up close behind Xander and closing the freezer door. He licked the man along the side of his neck and smiled as Xander shivered and pressed back against him.

"Oh yeah?"

Spike rubbed sinuously against Xander's buttocks and ran his hands over the man's chest and down his thighs.

"I've been planning it all day," Spike murmured.

"Planning what?" Xander asked, his breath hitching as the vampire ran his tongue around his ear.

Suddenly Xander found himself alone against the refrigerator as Spike began to open up cabinets.

"Well, I was watching Emeril the other day, and…"

Whatever Spike was going to suggest for dessert was promptly cut off by Xander spinning him around and kissing him soundly as he dragged him to the kitchen floor.

"Remind me to cancel cable," Xander said as he unbuttoned Spike's fly and pulled his jeans down to his knees.

"But then you'd miss _Queer Eye_ , and I know that Carson makes you hot," said Spike, his words choppier than normal as he writhed beneath Xander's warm hands.

" _You_ make me hot," said Xander, licking Spike's prominent erection before swallowing it to the root.

"Xander! Oh, yes, like that! Gah. Who needs cable. Or a tv? God, or a living room?" Spike asked before his eyes rolled back in his head and he was no longer able to think coherently at all.

The next day, however, Xander bought two throw-pillows for their couch, both blood red. He wouldn't want Spike's knees to hurt, after all.


End file.
